November Sweeps - Day 673

It's the fifth of December, and you know what that means, kinders . . . it's Krampusnacht!

Boy, do I love Krampusnacht.  It's fun to say, it's fun to imagine celebrating, and it's fun to . . . a third thing!

If you're unwashed, Kampusnacht is the night of the year where, in certain European locales, the belief is that Krampus, St. Nicholas's dark companion, comes to punish the naughty boys and girls by whipping them with rods, sticking them in his basket or bag, and whisks them off to a land of (I presume) rampant woodshed activity.  Other cheery regions say he drags the children to the river to be drowned.  Some are a bit more sanguine, and say that he simply carts them off to Hell.

Krampus is a delightful, hairy fellow, with horns, hooves, a tail, and lolling tongue, and is probably the basis for the Christian devil.  The belief in him (and celebration of that folktale) has existed for centuries, coming back into favor in a major way the last twenty years or so.  

And every December 5th, most Alpine towns will have a little festival or parade, wherein people dress as the monstrous creature and attempt to scare the onlookers (and if there's no groping involved, well then, I have misunderstood human nature completely).  I would love to attend one of these things one day.* 

There were multiple photos I could have chosen, but this one said "wormland," and I couldn't resist.

In honor of this auspicious day, a wonderful toy company called the Four Horsemen announced a super limited edition six inch action figure of Krampus that was not only solely available on Krampusnacht, but for only a few minutes on Krampusnacht.  

nicht für Kinder!

My cousin wanted one so much, he set his alarm for seven am so he could order it.  Big Anklevich and I had to settle for the scraps that were available in the second window, beginning at eight pm Eastern.  And my cousin's the real winner in this unholy observance, since he snagged four of them, and they're already selling for two hundred dollars on eBay (this is not an exaggeration--in fact, it was $200 plus $10.50 shipping!).

There was a movie a couple of years back (it had a real GREMLINS feel, but had the disadvantage of not coming out in 1984), but to me, Krampus will always remind me of a commercial G4 put out, that Big Anklevich loved so much he put it in his permanent Christmas playlist (and his children still sing it every year).  Here you go:

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In December: 500

In other news, I sat down with Abigail Hilton, as is our arrangement, after reading her novella, and talked to her about it, the various hard-to-pronounce words in the story, the ways I heard the characters in my mind.  She is remarkably savvy when it comes to her writing, able to remember who everyone is and whether they showed up in earlier texts (and whether they will become major players later on), and she has a real love for the "Hunters Unlucky" series, which I've been the sole narrator on.

She's got two more books already written in the series, and we'll talk again when this one is done whether I'll be the narrator on those or whether she'll give them to her other go-to narrator.**

Abbie is very protective of her work, and even though she's got another book series that is selling exceptionally well, she told me she writes this one because she loves the world and the characters.  The other series makes her money, but I suppose this one makes her happy.

I think I could learn something from that, except for that, at this stage of my life, I seem incapable of learning anything anymore.

Push-ups Today: 130
Push-ups In December: 525

Words Today: 1013
Words In December: 2215

*Although I did go to the West Hollywood Halloween parade, and saw Krampus-like dudes lurching about on stilts with scary masks, hooves, and engorged schnitzels.

**Have I talked about this before, that there are certain books that I'm absolutely born to narrate, and others where I'm not the best fit?  I'm currently reading "Abominable" by Dan Simmons, about attempts in the 1920's to summit Mount Rushmore, and I can't help but imagine how I would perform it if I were the narrator.  Of course, there are long stretches with French, German, and Tibetan languages being spoken, and there's no WAY I could manage something like that without sounding like a less-than-average middle-American dork.